Somebody gifted a plant sometime back. When I look at the plant on the Table, it appears to me as if the plant had the potential to grow into a big tree, but we confined the little plant within the limits of the pot, and it has grown strangely. It has a thick stem but has small leaves and branches. We have designed the plants to look the way we like. What "I" want is more important than what the "plant" is. The plant will grow the way "I" like it to grow. And then, "I" would also claim that "I" love the plant.
Yesterday, I went to a coaching institute to get some test series for a competitive exam for my daughter. The guide there spoke for around 40-45 minutes on the risks and chances of getting selected in different competitive examinations. So much competition. Fear is instilled into the minds of the students from the very beginning. Everything is around fear. If they are not able to get enrolment in a professional course, they will lose the battle of life. They will struggle on the street. That's why it is better to compete for the recognised courses. Another attempt, indirectly, to turn every child into a bonsai. Giving them a safe pot with the fertiliser and water that they need in the beginning, so that they become comfortable inside the pot. When they become older and want to grow in size, the very same pot will become the biggest obstacle for them. How can a package decide what subjects a child wants to study? The children deserve the land where they can grow to the fullest of their potential, rather than a pot with initial comforts and fertiliser.
Pots may look nice and safe to the parents, but the growth of the children requires land. Land is full of all kinds of possibilities, but at the same time, there would be unknown challenges also. There would be none to measure the right amount of nutrition and water in the soil. The parents may feel very elated when they provide that sort of ecosystem to their children. However, for growing to its fullest potential, the plant has to learn to fight the battle on the ground. Then only can it grow into a tree and withstand the winds and rough weather. We, as parents, just have to ask ourselves a question. Would we like to see our children safe like a bonsai in a pot, unable to face the rough weather of life, and looking for emotional support all through out their lives, or to grow into a big tree supporting many other beings and producing oxygen and giving fruits?
The "I" desires a beautiful home with different relationships, well-decorated with beautiful pots like bonsai. Is that fair to the relationships? Life is all about growth. Life is like a forest where every tree has the opportunity to grow giant, and it must face its own share of rough weather. Yesterday, there was a news story about leopards in the sugar belt of northern India that have become unfit to enter the forest because they are so fat that they can't survive there. I recall Goenka ji quoting Buddha in a Vipassana session that "comfort without awareness" is the most dangerous thing that can happen to a human being. This is because when we are uncomfortable, we still make efforts to move out of the "uncomfortable" zone, and therefore keep growing. When we are comfortable and stop growing because of the lack of awareness of life's meaning, we become sitting ducks, just waiting for some life situation to shatter us. A home full of bonsai may look beautiful, but that just reflects our greed and insensitivity towards the growth of those plants. The moment we drop the greed to have plants in our home, they grow in the ground to their fullest strength. A world where everyone grows into their fullest potential becomes a wonderful place to live.
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